ok to keep feeder fish in a 2.5 gallon filtered aquarium until they are fed to my two 11 inch oscars?

Question

I have been keeping a large stock of feeders in a 20 gallon aquarium for several years, but I would like to convert this 20 gallon into a community with livebearers and such, maybe 2-3 dwarf gouramis. Could I just use an old 2.5 gallon aquarium and hold feeders in there? I could restock feeders once every 2 weeks and my oscars eat 2 feeders a piece everyday, along with flakes and a few pieces of cooked ground beef. I guess I would be keeping around 30 feeders in a 2.5 gallon. SO OVERCROWDED. lmao. My oscars are held in a 200 gallon by themselves.

they havent got hole in head disease yet, so I'm not gonna worry about it

Answer 1

LOL; feeding your oscar fish does not cause hole in the head; thats caused by neglect. 30 may be too many for a 2.5 gallon depending on their size; you may have a great lose of feeders before you get a chance to feed him/her. If anything I would stock it and then not refill it until it's empty; it wouldn't be fair if a fish happened too stay in their for a few months because it happened not too be selected. I know their feeders; but a long torture id not fair. I say since the number will consistently dwindle its fine to overstock; just feed the older fish before the newer. GL

Answer 2

Why are you feeding your Oscars fish? That can commonly lead to hole in the head disease. It is much better to feed them blood worms, brine shrimp, and other meaty foods, but not feeders... You could keep the feeders in a 2.5 gallon tank, but you could only keep about 5 at the most before they kill themselves...

Nosoop4u

EDIT: Dazedbeyondconfused, Feeder Goldfish are kept in horrible conditions at the store, there, they pick up many viruses and parasites and diseases. These can all lead to hole in the head if ingested. Poor water quality only aids these pathogens by weakening the potential host fish.

EDIT 2: Wait, you're gonna wait until you lose a fish before you do something for them? Is that what fish keeping is about?

Answer 3

have you ever been in a position to verify your Goldie's water parameters? If the ammonia gets very extra suitable it reduces the oxygen interior the water which might reason him to pass to the actual for air. Walmart has some try strips for speedy checking out, API makes the only right IMO, because of fact it exams for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, and ph. If any of those readings are off very lots the water turns into much less tolerable on your pleco to stay in. so some distance as shifting him, how huge is he now, how long have you ever had him? If he's only 3 to 5 inches and your tank isn't over stocked, 25 would be ok for a together as longer. Is your goldie tank heated? Goldies thrive in heated tanks, nevertheless they are in a position to stay only advantageous without it. Plecos rejoice with heated tanks too, seventy two to seventy 8 F. what number gold fish are on your 25 gal tank? For small 2 to 4 inch goldies and a three to 5 inch pleco, you should be ok. As your Goldie's improve nevertheless, they're going to choose a minimum of 10 gallons each and each. they're contributors of the Carp kin and get very super, 12 to 24 inches for a number of them. Gold fish produce extremely some waste and nevertheless plecos are backside feeders, poor water high quality could reason all your fish to become ill. on account that i'm not sure approximately how long you're tank has been working, is it available which you have a cycling tank?

Answer 4

Why is overcrowding funny? It will spread disease to your oscars. BTW Oscars don't eat fish in the wild, they eat insects. Why not feed them some healthy pellets instead of the nutritionally lacking feeders?

Answer 5

A 2.5 gallon tank is way to small for that many fish, we keep ours in a 10 gal. tank. I also feed my feeder fish brine shrimp mix with vitamins, so they get a little bit of nutrition that is also good for your oscars. Don't feed them to many live fish though because it can cause all kinds of problems. I think once or twice a week is sufficient.

Answer 6

they wouldnt last very long, but it is a good idea to isolate them for about a week before feeding them to your oscars just to reduce the risk of disease! but I would recoment getting a ten gallon tank, just the tank is only like $10 and you could use the 2.5 gallons filter since the fish arent living in there long term! or you could just put 1 weeks supply in there!